NYDUCATI is a collection of Tigho's motorcycle photography from New York City and around the world, the bikes he encounters and the beauty of riding a Ducati StreetfighterR (custom 1198), a 848/1098/1198 track bike, a 996 and a Monster.

This week has been rough- with Monday blowing sub-zero temperatures into New York City...to nearly 60 and pouring by Thursday. I'm working on a pretty cool project with my Streetfighter... (more on that later- I'm dropping an 1198 engine in the bike to create a StreetfighterR), but I've been doing some clean up on the website, and it has made me a little sentimental for rides gone by.

So much of my identity has come from the rubber I've laid down on the road alone and with others, to the point that most of my closest people are now largely in the motorcycle community. I thought I'd take the weekend to reflect, listicle style- on some of my absolute favorite rides I've ever been blessed to take. So with all of that said, here are my top 15 Ducati motorcycle trips I've ever ridden, in no particular order:

Several years back, a couple friends and I rented bikes in Istanbul, Turkey and I rode a Yamaha MT-05 up the Bosphorus all the way to the Black Sea, bordering Russia. We had a few drinks and dinner at an incredible seaside restaurant and proceeded to do burnouts on my buddy's Yamaha R25 (an R3 for the Asian markets). Though it rained for much of the trip, it was one of the highlights of my life on a bike.

A couple of years ago, one of my buddies Alex and rented BMWs and traveled around Northern Italy and Switzerland. Lugano was one of the highlights of the "Lakes District-" with dramatic mountainside towns, and tunnels carving through the mountains around the lakes.

Before the days of Gotham Ducati, or even the East Coast Ducs, a whole bunch of us rode all the way up to Montreal on our Ducs. Joe and Jerry and I pushed on even further, taking the scenic route up to Quebec City, passing through an incredible motorcycle road (and managing not to run afoul of the very tight speed limits) in the Parc du Maurice.

10. Gotham Ducati Bachelor Party in Beverly Hills

via Gfycat
I don't actually have a write-up for this, as the proprietor of RentaDucati.com is an absolute scumbag who tried to screw us out of thousands of dollars for doing a couple of burnouts. However, getting to stay in Beverly Hills and ride the roads around LA was an absolute blast and the roads...some of the best I've ever done, and was lucky to share with my boys.

I have to say, that even though I only got to travel part of the way of this epic journey, down the Appalachian Skyway, along the Blue Ridge Parkway, and onto Asheville, North Carolina... this trip singlehandedly ignited a passion for travel and adventure by motorcycle.

I still can't believe we had nearly ten Ducs ride all the way from New York City to Montreal. (Credit: Gerald Charles on the vid)
Hot as it was, we had an amazing ride and an even better time hanging out, drinking and eating Poutine together.
(Credit: Shawn Mathew w/ the vid)

Ducati New York invited Gotham members and customers out last night to preview the 2019 Ducati Panigale V4R, a homologation superbike with 231hp and winglets capable of delivering 60lbs of downforce at 150mph, perfect for the West Side Highway of course.

My boys from Gotham Ducati in NYC are joining me at the track today. James showed up after dinner last night, but Jerry and Tommy got in late. They decided to ride down, and didn't get in till after midnight and unbelievably, they rode down from NYC.

If you ever have the chance to visit the countryside around Modena in Northern Italy, you'll find one of the most exquisite collection of Maserati cars collected from the last 100 years. Nestled in one of the barns of a working family farm, you can get a tour of a Parmesan cheese factory, and experience one of the finest displays of antique cars, a collection so incredible it's been colloquially called "Museo Maserati."
Parmesan cheese!

Racing motorcycles is a ton of fun, but requires a good bit of preparation. It's awful to wait for weeks for a track day, then drive several hours to NJMP or NYST to find that you've forgotten something essential important or essential. I've put together the following pack list to remind myself what to bring along to a track day, but maybe you might find it helpful as well.

Track Day Basics

A bike: You should prep your bike and make sure it's running smoothly BEFORE leaving for the track. If not, you'll fail tech inspection, and not be able to ride. Most riders safety wire parts of the bike that might come loose during a track day, like an oil filter and bolts, which especially if you ride a twin (like a Ducati), often untorque due to vibration.

Riding gear: Most racetracks require full leathers (at least zipped together), and though you can rent gear, it won't fit nearly as well as something of your own, and I highly recommend adding a back protector if your suit doesn't already equipped. Most tracks also require "gauntlet" style gloves and race boots, and a decent helmet.

Last night I had the opportunity to attend Ducati's official "Grand Opening" in Soho. Ducati Soho (the moniker by which the shop is more colloquially known) has been around for years, but the owner of Ducati’s most prolific franchise decided last year to divest the Triumph brand from his lineup, becoming Ducati’s flagship dealership globally.

Introducing Gotham Ducati, New York City's first and only DOC officially sponsored by the Ducati factory in Italy. There are numerous riding and social clubs, as well as groups built around track days around the tri-state area. There also quite a few Ducati fan clubs, spanning New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, but until now, there hasn't ever been a dedicated club celebrating New Yorkers who ride Ducati motorcycles.

The size of the outfit is impressive, sitting on a parking lot filled with gift-wrapped luxury automobiles, and driving in, you really feel like you have reached the Los Angeles suburbs of Southern California.

I am loath to disparage other motorcyclists. Riding is a small community, and yet there are certain transgressions that are unforgivable, and this happened today when Mo at EagleRider San Francisco put me on an unsafe bike that nearly killed me due to his neglect.

Last year, I had a quite a bit of awesome route guidance from friends who had lived or ridden the West Coast, but none better than from someone I had not met yet named Patty, introduced to me by a local friend Sandro, who helps to run DESMO on the East Coast.